- Title: HAITI: Haitian President visits school that collapsed killing 50
- Date: 8th November 2008
- Summary: AMBULANCE CARRYING GIRL DRIVING OFF AT DUSK VARIOUS OF RESCUE WORKERS DIGGING AND USING BLOWTORCHES TO DIG AT DUSK CARS DRIVING OFF EXTERIOR OF COLLAPSED SCHOOL AT NIGHT
- Embargoed: 23rd November 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Haiti
- Country: Haiti
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVADW6CLAQFI9WQQOLCORVIRMR9U
- Story Text: Haitian President Rene Preval visited a school that collapsed, killing at least 50, many of them children and injuring hundreds.
Haitian President Rene Preval visited a ramshackle church school which collapsed in a shanty town on the outskirts of Haiti's capital on Friday (November 7).
Dozens were buried in rubble and at least 50 killed, many of them children, rescue workers said.
The three-story La Promesse school caved in while class was in session, and some of the walls and debris crushed neighbouring residences in the Nerettes community near Port-au-Prince, injuring still more, civil protection service official Nadia Blachard told Haitian radio.
President Rene Preval said the poorly constructed building did not meet building standards, but the priority of authorities was to continue to hunt for those trapped under debris but still alive.
"What's important to us now-- beside all the sorrow and sadness we feel for the families-- is to bring help to those who are still under the rubble and see if we can get them out. To accomplish this, the first thing we need to do is get these people (crowds on street) out of the way because the street is too small," he said. "All the cars need to move so that the engineers can reach the site. Secondly, we ask that the people standing on roofs watching get off so we can avoid a second catastrophe."
The roads around the school were so jammed with people looking for loved ones that some of the rescuers had to be brought in by helicopter.
At the scene, crying and screaming parents searched desperately for their children while bodies of students lay crushed under blocks of concrete.
"Now I'm all alone," said one woman. "My kids are my joy and now they're all gone. I have one child-- my 4-year-old and that's my favourite child-- and that's the one they haven't found yet."
The work continued after nightfall with the help of U.N. peacekeepers, relatives and rescue services.
The impoverished Caribbean nation lacks sophisticated rescue equipment and rescue workers could be seen digging at the street with shovels and anything available.
More than 9,000 multinational troops and police make up a U.N.
peacekeeping force sent to stabilize Haiti after its former president was driven out in a bloody rebellion in 2004.
Haiti is also still struggling with the destruction wrought by four tropical storms and hurricanes that hit in quick succession this year, killing more than 800 people and destroying 60 percent of the crop harvest. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None